Wakeup call to RIAA: Idol winner scores 942,000 downloads
Fresh from winning American Idol and yet to cut a full album, David Cook’s already scored 942,000 digital downloads according to Nielsen SoundScan. This is fairly remarkable as the numbers are from the week ending Sunday, meaning Cook averaged six figure downloads a day. Not bad at all.
His nearest competitor, first runner-up David Archuleta, didn’t manage even half of that number with only 323,000 downloads within the same period. Third place Jason Castro trailed behind with 64,000 downloads to their name.
Contrary to the RIAA’s constant moaning about record sales going down and MP3s hastening the death of the record industry, Cook’s popularity is an example of the demand for digital content. Artists like Radiohead, Coldplay and Nine Inch Nails have gotten much press for their digital distribution experiments, and if that’s one thing digital downloads are good for, it’s publicity.
Another Idol runner-up, Elliott Yamin, released the song “Movin’ On” from his self-titled debut album on AOL’s First Listen and iTunes, as a teaser. Yamin went on to score the highest new artist debut on an independent label in SoundScan history, achieving success without being tied to a major record label.
American Idol could also be another factor driving downloads, with artists like Carrie Underwood, ZZ Top and George Michael seeing increases in downloads after making guest appearances on the show.
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May 30th, 2008
Your article is misleading regarding the numbers of downloads for runners up David Archuleta and Jason Castro. Only Cook has a new song available for download. The former contestants have had their songs removed and only David Cooks new song remains available. I wish I could still download a couple I missed, but alas, they have been removed.
May 30th, 2008
Sorry, I believe the runner up’s songs were only available for one day after the show ended.. Or I think that is what Ryan S. stated.